Page Nine

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

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Friend of Life

In an unprecedented display of leadership last week, fellow pro-lifer and Arizona State Treasurer Dean Martin lost his wife due to rare complications giving birth, and announced the heart-wrenching death of his son a mere three days later. Father, mother, son--all three are heroes. Full story

June 6, 2009--Get trained on Saturday, June 6, 2009 from 9:00-3:30 at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church Hall. This interactive training will provide you the truth about abortion, when life actually begins, if women really need abortion, what "choice" really means, and if abortion truly hurts women. Please bring a $10 donation for the training manual and a $15 donation to obtain a personal copy of the documentary Abortion: Inside the Choice. Register by calling 602-285-0063 or e-mail AZRTL@AZRTL.org

SNEAK PREVIEW

This summer we will unveil the final plans for Project "MEGASIGA," (ancient Greek for "Loud Silence") an educational 4D ultrasound video to be on display in a local mall. Like our sneak preview? Be the reason it happens. Sneak us a donation!

Life Educational Corporation is a 501(c)(3) educational organization. Donations to LEC are tax-deductible.

May 26th, 2009--Education Director Melanie Pritchard delivered an educational talk on self-worth and the value of life to K-6th graders at St. Theresa's School. Pritchard reminded the students the way she reminds her own son every day, "You are unrepeatable, irreplaceable, and unique. The day you were born the world changed for the better because you're in it. There never was or ever will be anybody like you."

Pritchard said the theme posed the question: "How can a woman value the life of her child if she doesn't value her own life?" She said, "If we can show the youth their inherent value, then our hope is that they will then grow to see the value of all human life, including the unborn."

Tuesday, June 2, 2009--Last Monday, Arizona state Treasurer Dean Martin's wife Kerry passed away due to complications magnified by childbirth. But the tragedy wasn't over. After 13 years of marriage, Dean's only child Austin Michael Martin-born 8 lbs, 5 oz.-died three days later. About 12 hours transpired before Dean hosted a press conference to offer consolation not for himself, but to mothers fearing a similar plight.

"The reason I chose to come out and speak to you today," he said, "is that I know many expectant mothers who have heard this news are probably very worried-I know Kerry would have been. But I want you to know that the events that led to Kerry's death are rare, and she would not want you to worry. Hug your family, and cherish the miracle of life, but don't worry."

He spoke dutifully, the way a decorated general would explain the loss of his men to their parents, but with the occasional broken voice of a grieving father, revealing personal human anguish.

Martin's display of leadership drew poetic words of encouragement from around Arizona.

"State Treasurer Dean Martin's press statement was one of the most genuine and sincere events that I have ever seen." wroteJudge Gerald Williams, "It was both a remarkable statement of faith and an amazing realization of the impact that his own personal tragedy could have on other expectant mothers. His concern for others, the vast majority of which he will never even know, was uniquely noteworthy. He allowed us to see him at what has to be the worst time in his life and I hope everyone realizes what an amazing man we have as our State Treasurer."

"To have that grace, to think of others, especially moms worried. Having been a worried high-risk pregnancy mother, I cry for you, thank you for your incredible integrity, and the beautiful example of Christian fellowship," was one anonymous response over at Sonoran Alliance blog followed by, "I can't keep my eyes dry. I don't know how Dean did the news conference. I would have had to have someone speak for me."

Local pundit Le Templar said, "Dean Martin has sent out just about the most stunning news release I have ever read." Speaking about Dean's wife, Templar pointed out that "Kerry was his staunchest supporter and probably his closest friend.

This is the same Kerry who was the first to respond to a request for a rather unusual donation.

The March 2009 issue of the Arizona Life Times newsletter asked expecting mothers to send in a 4D Ultrasound video of their baby. The videos will be used in a cutting-edge educational display that Arizona Right to Life is working feverishly to install in a local mall by August 2009.

Kerry Martin raved on the phone with Program Specialist Teddy Sifert, and couldn't wait for the opportunity to show-off her unborn son on the nearly seven-feet-wide screens. "Anything I can do to help the cause," she said. Sifert asked her to send a copy of her ultrasound video at her convenience, and she promised to send the videos after her son Austin was born.

The 4D Ultrasound (fourth dimension is motion) is GE's latest in sonographic technology and shows never-before-seen images of unborn children sucking their thumbs, smiling, opening and closing their eyes, and the undeniable facial characteristics of the parents.

Even though Austin Michael Martin lived for only three days, he could play a major pro-life role: inspiring the 10 million local mall visitors to save others just like him.

Gary McCaleb serves as senior counsel and senior vice-president with the Alliance Defense Fund at its Team Resource Center in Scottsdale, Arizona. He leads a litigation team comprised of 26 attorneys and 17 support staff with offices in the District of Columbia, Arizona, Kansas, California, Georgia, and Tennessee.

Since joining ADF in 2002, McCaleb has litigated numerous religious liberty and free speech cases in federal and state trial and appellate courts throughout the United States.

McCaleb earned his J.D. from Regent University School of Law, graduating with honors in 1997. Before working with ADF, he litigated and lobbied for the Center for Arizona Policy and litigated with the American Center for Law and Justice. McCaleb received a B.S. in Forestry from Northern Arizona University, graduating magna cum laude in 1981.

Practicing law since 1998, McCaleb is admitted to the bar of the Arizona Supreme Court. He currently resides in Scottsdale, Arizona.

McCaleb has appeared on numerous broadcasts and in many publications, including Fox News, MSNBC, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Times. He is a U.S. Navy veteran and served as a forester for the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.

Each month we feature a genuine pro-life legislator in the Arizona Life Times. Senator Russell Pearce hails from Mesa and is Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. His official bio waxes renaissance man, with diverse expertise in well nigh every facet of politics and law, all with staggering measured results. But this modern-day Leonardo Da Vinci "values Faith, Family, and Freedom above all else."

AZRTL: Is there any single incident in your life that compelled your pro-life convictions? If it was not just one incident, why are you pro-life?

Sen. Pearce: My pro life conviction comes from the value system taught in my home and my church. I have always believed in the sanctity of life and the protection of the most innocent among us, the unborn. I love families and believe children are a gift from God. It absolutely breaks my heart to see life discarded so easily. I know the pressures and the challenges a baby brings, but the decision cannot be to destroy a life for one's own convenience. It is a human life and deserves protection constitutionally and morally. To protect life, liberty and property is our constitutional duty recognized by our Founding Fathers as "God"-given rights, rights that cannot be violated or taken from us by government.

AZRTL: What impact do you think our project to display ultrasound videos in the mall will have on the culture of life?

Sen. Pearce: I believe putting a face and a testimony before the public in malls, on billboards, and radio and television will allow people to recognize that these are precious babies and they are real. Any way we can touch the hearts of our citizens and make them aware of options that allow these babies to be born is a good thing. These are tough decisions perhaps, but they are life-saving options.

AZRTL: Do you have a pro-life hero?

Sen. Pearce: I have spoken with folks who were allowed to live because of protections from the ability to abort or because a decision to abort was changed. What a shame it is for those who were not allowed to live. Whose life could they have enhanced because of the contributions they might have made? The list is long and the heart break is deep. Who are we that we give such little thought to ending a life? I know that many of those in a desperate and emotional state of mind who make these choices have life-long emotional trauma in looking back at their decisions and my heart breaks for them. So to prevent abortions, to allow life to develop and the baby to live and grow is ultimate for me.

AZRTL: What has been your greatest pro-life accomplishment in the AZ legislature?

Sen. Pearce: For the last six years we have passed legislation only to have it vetoed by our former pro-abortion Governor. I would love to have the legislature pass a constitutional referendum to protect the sanctity of life and to make it clear that abortion is illegal except in the case of the mother's life.

AZRTL: Do you have any words for pro-lifers?

Sen. Pearce: I don't just have a 100% voting record on life; I have a 100% commitment to life and families.

Congratulations on your election!

Gilbert MayorJohn Lewisand newest Gilbert CouncilwomanJenn Daniels

National Right to Life & Arizona Right to Life Urge You to Sign "Stop Abortion Agenda" Petition!

WASHINGTON--National Right to Life is urging all U.S. Senators & U.S. House Members to reject Barack Obama's radical abortion agenda.Barack Obama & his allies in the pro-abortion Democratic leadership in Congress are taking aim at unborn children and their mothers with a radical pro-abortion agenda, including:- requiring taxpayers to fund abortions for any reason.- forcing hospitals and health care professionals to provide abortions.- funding organizations that perform and promote abortions.- forcing employer health insurance plans to cover abortion.- enacting a bill that would invalidate virtually all state and federal laws limiting abortion, including parental notification laws, and make partial-birth abortion legal again (this bill is the so-called "Freedom of Choice Act" or FOCA).